Different types of light weight exercise apparatuses have been designed over the years for exercising various areas of a user's arm. Particularly, hand-held apparatuses that totally surround a user's hand or that provide a straight support just for the user's wrist have been developed in order to strengthen a user's hand, wrist area, forearm or upper arm during exercise.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,240 (" 'the Rigler patent") describes a heated hand exerciser in the form of a straight shell that encloses the individual's hand and a portion of the forearm. Electrical heating coils are wrapped around the shell to maintain the hand or arm in heated surroundings. A compressible handgrip is located inside of the exerciser that the user grips to perform a kneading action in order to exercise the user's hand in a heated environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,916 (" 'the Beaumont patent") describes another type of exercise apparatus in which a flat platform is used to support the lower arm and wrist of a user. A strap secures the user's arm to the platform and a gripping bar at the end of the platform is provided for gripping by the user's hand. A series of coaxially aligned adjustable weights are supported by a post positioned on the side of the platform opposite the gripping bar for alignment of the weights to the user's hand. This maintains a desired center of gravity proximate to the gripping bar and concentrates the exertion by the user during exercise.
Although the above described exercise apparatuses provide some means for exercising a user's arm musculature, exercise apparatuses that can be used during light weight exercise and provide maximum muscular contraction and extension are desired.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an exercise apparatus that provides proper placement of a user's hand and wrist during light weight exercise.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an exercise apparatus that is simple in design, easy to use, economical to manufacture and low in cost.